It has worked fine. No issues with stability or leveling.

Getting it to the right height is a bit of a hassle if you change material thickness frequently because in order to adjust it I have to remove the work piece and the honeycomb bed, turn the screw, add everything back to check if it’s right, and if not, repeat the process until it’s dialed in. Usually I am working with 3mm ply though so it’s not very often I need to fiddle with it, and when I need to work on something bulky it’s nice to be able to lift it without for added depth.

Hey there,

Lots of things over the past few years. I will list them here and just let me know if you want more details.

Most recently to oldest

*Built a new stand/rolling cart with laptop drawer and monitor mount

*Air hose regulator so I can easily toggle the air for the assist on and off without messing with the compressor valve

*Microcontroller based thermostat that triggers LED lights when water for the coolant gets too hot

*Cohesion 360 board so I can use lightburn and control power intensity from computer

*Secondary power supply to run case upgrades

*Extra case lights

*Intake fans

*Laser crosshairs

*Drag chain for air assist and laser cross hair wires

*analog Ammeter

*analog flow gauge

*Scissor lift

*Honeycomb bed

*Inline exhaust setup

A classic

The Ryan’s Steakhouse Incident. Stumbled across it over a decade ago and still the memory of it makes me laugh.

http://www.ihos.com/steakhouse.html

Did you ever find the answer to your question?

It will depend on your lenses and their corresponding focal length. Normally for cutting you want that focal point to hit halfway through the thickness of the material you are cutting. For etching slate I would put that focal length right at the surface.

The standard focal length for a k40, which is the laser I use, with the stock lenses is 50.8mm I believe.

I have a k40, it’s a Chinese laser cutter that can be had for around $400.

It’s been great for me.

Cool! What do you use for finish?

Nice! Now you need to make a box to store them in

The colors are a nice touch! Thanks for sharing

I have been thinking about making new boxes for a few different games so saving this idea for later.

I have been trying to figure out in my head how I could do a lasercut version of Battleship too.

I read somewhere that it takes around 150 hours of interaction to generate that bond of friendship between men.

That seems both a small number and a very daunting one given how many people live relative isolation today. Someone might say, join a club and make friends, but if that number is right that’s an hour long weekly meetup for three years.

Thanks 👍

I’ll have to play around with some of these. Any you have found useful?

That is cool thanks for sharing.

Ooh nice

Any luck getting it to work?

Haha thanks

I like that you tell a story with the images. It’s a lot more challenging to create a cohesive series. Nice work 👍

icon submission

Some more variations https://imgur.com/a/9808Z4T

Is it both vector and raster engraving? Your description of “adaptive quality” sounds like that is what is happening. Can your software toggle off the vector engraving and leave only raster?

I use a CO2 laser, which has some different cutting properties than a diod laser, so I don’t have much experience here, but I think for something with fine detail like that you’d be best to try grayscale

I found this guide for a diod laser so see if that works. https://endurancelasers.com/laser-engraving-of-halftones-how-to-print-beautiful-photos/

The other option I have done when things are just too detailed is go into inkcape and simplify the line work manually.

Can you share a picture of the source image you are looking to etch?

Also what type of machine do you use?

Do you run into the same issue if you etch on to plywood?

I am not a huge fan of burning on cork because of the charring/smell issues. I have had luck turning the air assist up higher to help some.

I use Lightburn so not sure how this translates, but do you have a dither or grayscale option?

This might be helpful https://awesome.tech/k40-laser-engraving/